


Crossroads of Destinies: Fools and their Lovers

by sleeping0dragon



Category: Persona Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25927702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeping0dragon/pseuds/sleeping0dragon
Summary: On one ordinary day, three wielders of great power stumble into another world and cross paths with one another. Together, these young men and their loved ones join forces to stop an impending crisis that threatens to destroy the world they live in. Post P5 Oneshot.
Kudos: 8





	Crossroads of Destinies: Fools and their Lovers

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This story idea came to me while working on my other Persona story. I thought a change of pace would be better so I decided to go forward with this.
> 
> As a disclaimer, this story borrows elements from my other Persona story, but it's not a direct continuation of it or anything. And yes, this is a P3 bias story.

**CROSSROADS OF DESTINIES: FOOLS AND THEIR LOVERS**

**May 15, 20XX**

Makoto Yuki's set of blue hair bobbed back and forth in a steady rhythm; his eyes tightly shut. From the other passengers' perspectives, he could've been either sleeping or actually moving to the beat of music blasting from his black headphones. At least that was the case from those that were actually interested enough in noticing him. Clad in a pair of blue jeans, black and white converse sneakers and a navy-blue t-shirt, he was a model of ordinary.

_"Next stop, Shibuya…Shibuya."_ The train operator's announcement came as the train noticeably dropped in speed.

Makoto's eyes opened just a crack as a yawn escaped his lips. Through his headphones, a man rapidly spewed out a string of words that created a powerful beat that stirred his soul. He kept his mp3 player on as he made his way off the train behind a large group of other passengers. It was still early in the morning so the station was crowded with all sorts of people from students to office workers. Packed like sardines was a highly appropriate expression. This was something that he didn't miss about Tokyo at all.

After managing to reach the Hachiko statue outside in record time, his phone began to vibrate from within his right pants pocket. A quick look on the screen revealed a new message. _"Where are you?"_

_"Just got off the train, heading over now."_ He responded before putting the phone back in his pocket. Then it dawned on him.

"How do I get there, again?"

* * *

The library at K University was an exquisite place, at least in the eyes of Yu Narukami. Large windows that looked out into a beautiful green garden, rooms painted with bright and warm colors, working air conditioning that's always set to just the right temperature and most importantly of all, it was a very quiet place. If he wanted to fully concentrate and study for something, this was at the top of his list.

"How much time do I have left?" He whispered before taking a look at his silver stainless steel watch he got as a present. A pleased smile spread across his face. "Just about time." He straightened out his sleeveless black vest that covered most of his white dress shirt underneath before carrying his three books over to the counter.

Along the way, some of the other female students turned their attention to him and began to whisper amongst each other. In addition to his vest and dress shirt, he wore freshly ironed black slacks and dress shoes. The combination of his usual clothing, his tall height, his cleanly combed silver hair and his natural good looks had captured the hearts of many secret admirers. Despite everything, Yu remained oblivious of the matter.

"I'm returning these," he said to the library clerk. She was a petite young woman around his age who always seemed excited to engage in conversation with him.

"Received, thank you." After gathering the books, the clerk reached below the counter and pulled out what appeared to be a long slender object of several feet in length and wrapped in purple cloth.

Yu quickly moved to retrieve the object from her. "Thanks as always. I'm always afraid that something might happen to it if I took it with me over to the study area" He flashed her a smile, causing her ears and cheeks to tinge with a slight red.

"N-No problem, Narukami-san. It's pretty heavy though. Is it really a fishing rod?"

"Well, it's for another hobby of mine," he replied and then quickly left the library.

* * *

"Would you quit gawking at the television and get back to work?"

Ren Amamiya's eyes swept across the empty café. "There's no one here though."

"Just because there's no customers, doesn't mean you can slack off!" The middle-aged man with the stylish long beard shot him an angry glare, but then sighed and just shook his head. "I can't believe you came back here."

"It just so happens that the café is close by to the school. More coffee?" Ren extended the coffee pot to Sojiro who was now sitting on a stool, his attention on the television.

"I'm fine." The café owner declined with a hand wave. When Ren placed the pot back onto the plate, Sojiro asked, "How's school? Not getting into trouble are you?"

"Of course not," Ren curtly replied. "I attend all…most of my classes and my grades are…adequate."

Sojiro grumbled something incoherent and kept his attention on the television.

Ren leaned against the counter and resumed watching the news program. _"Looks like everything is going fine,"_ he thought after 5 minutes went by. _"I kind of miss those days…kinda."_

"Why didn't you leave with Futaba and the others again?" Sojiro asked.

"Got other plans instead." It was then he noticed the clock on the wall. His eyes grew large before he bolted upstairs. Seconds later, he returned downstairs now wearing a black blazer over a t-shirt, jeans and stylish brown shoes. Before Sojiro could say anything, Ren quickly coughed out a, "Gotta go, running late" and disappeared out the door in a flash.

* * *

"Looks like you're in a good mood," The blond stylist noted.

"What do you mean?" Yukari asked, facing forward at the mirror in front of her.

"Your face is full of smiles and I know that it's not just because you're in _work_ mode."

"Is it that obvious?" Yukari's eyes grew wide with shock as she placed her hands on her burning cheeks. Her smile remained plastered on her face despite her attempts to hide it.

The stylist checked her surroundings and leaned in closer to Yukari's right ear. She whispered, "Maybe it has to do with your…boyfriend?"

"You're not getting anything from me," Yukari jokingly replied before pursing her lips.

"I already heard enough," the stylist said with a laugh and then began placing the makeup tools back into her box. "Well you're ready to go. We still have some time left since the others haven't arrived yet. Feel free to kill some time in the meantime."

"Thanks, I'll do just that," Yukari replied as she got out of her chair and made her way to the corner of the makeup room where she kept her bag. "Now, where are you?" She murmured and looked at her phone. "He's in Shibuya already so he should be here in a few more minutes." Her face lit up with a smile.

She approached the large body mirror nearby and practiced posing as if she was on camera. With just a smidgen of mascara and light pink lipstick on, her face had a warm attractive glow. Her heart shaped earrings gave her both a mature yet youthful appearance. She then took a closer look at her clothes. The photoshoot's theme was casual spring and summer wear for young women so she was currently wearing a short sleeved white one-piece dress that reached just a few inches above her knees. On her feet were a pair of white block heel sandals and completing her outfit was the small black bag strapped across her back.

"Okay, good to go," she said with a wink and striking one more pose when the door opened.

A girl with copper colored twin tails appeared. She first slowly looked around the room until her eyes fell on Yukari. A pause. Then her mouth opened wide. "Yukari-san, there you are!"

"Eh, Rise-chan? Why are you here?"

"Didn't you know? I'm one of the models for the photoshoot!"

"Really? I didn't check who were the other models." Yukari gave the younger girl a quick hug and then noticed her clothes. Rise wore a light blue laced tank top, a ruffled red miniskirt and dark brown leather sandals. "You're wearing those clothes for the shoot, right?"

"Yup." Rise beamed with delight and ran a hand down the side of her top and skirt. "I really like these clothes so I ended up wearing them a bit before the actual shoot."

"I know the feeling." Yukari took a seat at the table piled with some fruits, sandwiches and drinks. "How long has it been? A few years now? How are the others doing? Narukami-kun?"

Rise took an apple and bounced it around in her hands. "The others are doing fine. Yu-senpai too. He's actually on his way here."

"How supportive," Yukari said with a grin.

"Of course." Rise's face lit up as she flashed her a large smile. "How about Yuki-san? What's he up to these days? Other than doing _you know what_."

"You probably won't believe it, but he's a novelist who writes stories aimed towards young adults. His works are surprisingly popular too."

"No way," Rise said with an amused smile. "What story did he write? I'll check it out when I have time."

Yukari furrowed her eyebrows. "Let's see…his most popular story is called _Eternal Sin_ which was about a group of kids with special powers. They somehow got involved with the villain who could warp reality."

"Wait, I know that story!" Rise slammed her palms down onto the table which attracted some attention from the other people in the room. "But I'm pretty sure the author's name was Minato Arisato."

"It's actually Makoto's pen name," Yukari admitted with a wry smile.

"That kind of makes sense since Arisato-san was a completely unknown person. Nobody knew what he looked like…but to think it was Yuki-san all along. I need to get his autograph."

"You can ask him once he gets here. He's on his way too."

"What a coincidence! Maybe we should do something together after this."

"Excuse me, is this the makeup room?" The door cracked open and a platinum blond haired girl peeked her head through the opening.

"What a surprise, another familiar face," Rise cheerfully noted. She hopped off her seat and waved her hand until she caught the girl's attention. "Ann-chan, over here."

"Rise-san!" The nerves on the girl's face disappeared and was immediately replaced with relief and joy.

"A friend of yours?" Yukari asked.

"Yeah, we met a few times on some of my modeling gigs. Her name's Ann Takamaki."

Ann suddenly stopped about two feet away from Yukari. Her smile quickly disappeared and her mouth closed shut. From the corner of Yukari's eyes, she could see the girl's hands had clenched into fists.

" _Just what did I do this girl?"_ Yukari quickly searched her memories, but drew a complete blank. She never met her before.

Rise gestured her hand towards Yukari. "She's-."

"Yukari Takeba-san," Ann quickly interjected. As if a floodgate had just been opened, she became very animated compared to how she was just a moment ago. "I'm actually a big fan of yours, for a while actually. You're sort of the reason why I tried out modeling in the first place. I love your style and the way you carry yourself. And your performance as the Pink Argus was amazing!"

"I-Is that right?" Yukari replied. Her face grew hot when she realized how wrong she was earlier.

"You never told me that," Rise said, a small frown on her face. "If you did, then I would've introduced you earlier."

"I actually never really told people about it before," Ann shyly admitted, an embarrassed flush flashed across her face.

Yukari gave her a warm smile to ease whatever tension was left in her. "It's nice to meet you…umm…"

"You can just call me Ann."

"Ann-chan then. _Yukari_ is fine too."

"It's great to meet you too, Yukari-san."

"Wait, so are you here for the photoshoot as well?" Rise asked.

"Yes, I was actually called in as a last-minute replacement for another model. I heard she suddenly came down with a cold."

"Then you better quickly get change since we're going to start any minute now," Yukari warned and gestured to the corner. "You can leave your bag and things over there."

"Got it."

Yukari watched as Ann drop off her bag before darting to the changing room. "She's seems nice."

"Are any of your fans, not nice?" Rise joked.

Yukari grinned. "You got me."

"We should invite Ann-chan for lunch."

"That sounds great," Yukari replied before she checked her phone again. "Still not here," she murmured.

"Are you talking about Yuki-san?"

Yukari nodded.

"Now that I think about it, Yu-senpai hasn't arrived yet either. That's kind of concerning." Rise frowned and looked out the window. "Hopefully nothing bad happened to them."

Yukari got up from her seat. "Don't worry, those two are quite strong. I'm sure they're all fine."

"Yeah…" Rise lowered her eyes and checked her phone again.

Behind Yukari's reassuring smile was a growing concern. _"Something doesn't feel right. Hopefully it's really nothing."_

* * *

" _You will arrive at your destination in five minutes."_

"Seems like I'll arrive on time after all," Makoto said with a sigh of relief. As he was walking past the opening to an alleyway, a chill ran through his body. By instinct, he turned towards the alleyway, his hand gripping tighter onto his phone. For several seconds, he made no movement towards it and instead concentrated on what appeared to be a swirling vortex of red energy lightly emitting near the back of the alley.

It was both familiar yet unfamiliar, but yet it still beckoned him towards it until he was approximately a foot away. The vortex became more visible as the seconds ticked by. He looked back at the entrance and realized nobody else had noticed the bizarre sight. An earsplitting bang returned his attention to the vortex which now opened larger before a dark light engulfed his entire body.

* * *

A groan escaped Makoto's mouth as his body stirred on the ground. He slowly got back onto his feet and immediately found himself in a whole other place. A coat of bloody red covered the eerie sky. The unnatural phenomenon was reminiscent of another time and place. Other than the strange sky, his surroundings had changed into something like an apocalyptic Tokyo. Through the heavy dense fog that blanketed much of his surroundings, he was barely able to make out buildings that were either run down or completely collapsed. The same was said about the cars on the streets full of debris and a faint mist that hovered over them. There was a rotten stench permeating in the air which he couldn't trace the source too. Most important of all, there was nobody else present. A Tokyo devoid of another living soul just didn't seem possible from the constant lively metropolitan.

"No…there's something out there," he whispered under his breath. While it was faint, he still sensed movements a few blocks away. "Nothing else to do, but move forward, I guess." With his mind made up, he cautiously walked down the street. Every now and then, he looked through the store windows to see if there were other signs of life he missed.

As he was about to turn down the next corner, a blade shot out from the shadows. Fortunately for him, his knees bent down in time to avoid it and he then twisted his body into a spinning jump that avoided the followup downward slash. Before a third slash could make contact, he backflipped away to create some distance from his attacker. When his right hand grabbed nothing but air near the side of his hip, he released a deep sigh. _"Maybe I should start carrying it all the time now."_

The attacker had ceased his assault and slowly moved out of the shadows and into the light. From there, a tall young man appeared, his eyes and mouth were wide opened. "Yuki…san?" The man whispered.

Makoto's eyebrows lifted as the tension in his body started to ease up. The young man looked familiar, but he couldn't quite recall who. "You know who I am?"

"You don't remember? It's me!" The young man took several steps towards him, slow and in a non-threatening manner.

"Even if you say that, it's still not coming back to me."

"Yu Narukami," he finally revealed, his voice suddenly sound deflated.

Realization struck Makoto. "Oh…Narukami. Yeah…I think I remember now. What are you doing here?" He closed the gap between the two of them.

"I'm not sure actually." Yu scratched his head and looked around them. "I just sort of got here. Then I came into contact with you…thought you were a Shadow for a moment. Sorry about that. This fog is really impairing my vision. This is ordinary by the way." He tapped his glasses.

"It's not like you could've hurt me anyway with that sakabato." Makoto eyed the long katana in Yu's hand.

"You noticed?" Yu raised the sword so that Makoto could get a closer look. "Yeah, it has a reverse edge."

"I only noticed just now." The hair on Makoto's neck suddenly stood upright. "There could be monsters watching us from a distant. How about flushing them out?"

"Hmm?" Yu appeared puzzled by at the sudden change in topic.

Makoto slightly nodded at Yu who after a few seconds, nodded as well.

"I got it. I'll take a look over there then."

As the younger man made his way towards the other side of the street, Makoto raised a hand to his chin and looked up at the tall partially collapsed building ahead of him. He felt a sudden faint change in the wind. Without as much as a sound, he swiftly sidestepped and grabbed the arm that came descending down where he was standing. In the same movement, he flung a body over his back and to the ground.

The attacker groaned with pain on the ground.

"Yuki-san!" Yu called out as he ran back towards him and then looked down at the ground. "Did you get hur-Wait…Amamiya, is that you?"

Ren continued to moan in pain, but he was able to open his eyes at this point. "Narukami-senpai?"

"Yeah, it's me." Yu helped Ren onto his feet. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same about you." Ren dusted the dirt off his blazer and shot a look at Makoto.

"Sorry."

"No, it was my bad. I thought you were a Shadow so I-."

"What do you know about Shadows?" Yu quickly demanded, the tone in his voice raised a few notches.

Before Ren could reply, the three of them turned their attention to across the street. From the shadows, a dark entity appeared and made his way towards them. Surrounded by a black aura, it looked like a man with long white hair and completely covered in dark red armor.

" _More like a monster and its monster horse."_

The horse stood taller than 10 feet and its rider was approximately 8 feet tall. It was certainly no ordinary man.

"Now _that_ looks like a Shadow," Ren remarked before he pulled out a long battle knife and braced for attack.

Noticing Ren's stance, Yu readied his blade. "Reverse edge or not, it'll have to do."

"If this is anything like the Metaverse, then you have to believe it's a real katana."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I might as well as do just that. Yuki-san, do you have something to fight with?"

Makoto reached into his pockets as the rider rapidly advanced towards them. "How about this?" He pulled out the first object he grabbed and then threw it at the raging horsemen. The bar of chocolate bounced off the rider's head like a leaf.

"Is that all you have?!" Ren shouted before he dodged the incoming spear. He then blocked the followup attack with his knife, but felt the heavy spear pushing down on him. "A little help here?"

"Leave it to me." Yu swung against the rider's spear and knocked it away from Ren who then unleash a barrage of quick slashes to the rider's body.

The slashes stopped once the rider made a sweeping arc with his spear and forcibly dispersed Ren and Yu away from it.

"Damn, it's strong," Yu noted with a low growl. He closed his eyes for a moment as his blade became enveloped with lightning. "But how about this?" He swung his blade like a golf swing and unleashed an electric current that ran on the ground until it made contact with the horse.

The electric shock engulfed the rider and his horse, causing them to release a rumbling cry.

Ren applauded with a clap of his hands. "Not bad, Narukami-senpai. Here's a trick of my own." He raised his arm causing a bright light to appear and then materialize into a large red humanoid creature with a black top hat, horned mask and black feathery wings.

"Persona!" Makoto and Yu exclaimed in unison.

With a smirk, Ren pointed a finger at the mysterious rider. "Attack, Arsene!"

The Red Persona let out a chuckle and thrust his palm forward. Balls of red light bombarded down against the rider, but despite the powerful attack, the rider continued to push through it and made its way towards the three men.

"My turn." Yu raised an open palm and then tightly shut it as a light appeared over him and materialized into another humanoid creature. It wore a white headband and was clad in a long black coat. "Izanagi…go!"

The new Persona raised his sword with a very long grip and fired an electric bolt at the enemy. The combined attacks from the Personas had noticeably slowed the rider down, but not completely.

Yu turned to look back at Makoto who just stood casually watching the scene in front of them. "I think this is a good time for you to step in too!"

"Oh, right," Makoto replied with a nod. "Come, Orpheus." From the materialized light appeared another humanoid creature. With exposed joints that connected his white arms and legs, it looked almost like a puppet.

Orpheus plucked the strings of his harp before a barrage of fireballs appeared and descended onto the rider. The combined Persona attacks were enough to generate an explosion that devoured the monsters.

Before the three could celebrate, the smoke from the explosion cleared and the rider remained standing, his horse gone from sight. Cracks and dents appeared on his armor, but he was very much still alive.

"Is it invincible?" Yu muttered. "Maybe a strategic retreat would be better."

The rider quickly dashed toward Yu and Ren in a flash and was about to thrust his spear when Makoto suddenly sent a flying kick to his head. The attack managed to only briefly stun the rider enough to withdraw his original attack. This time, he focused on Makoto and unleashed a barrage of thrusts at the blue haired man.

Makoto swiftly dodge left and right multiple times until an opening presented itself. He wrapped his right arm around the spear's body and pinned it down. With his left arm pulled back, he focused his strength before thrusting his palm at the rider's abdomen. A fiery explosion erupted from his palm upon impact. Despite the impressive strike, it only left a shallow charred mark on the armor.

The rider freed his spear afterwards and swung it down on Makoto. Fortunately, Yu quickly deflected the attack with his blade, leaving the rider wide open for just a mere moment, but enough time for Izanagi to dive in and thrust his blade through the rider's abdomen.

After a strained grunt, Izanagi shove the rider down to the ground.

"One more time," Ren called out.

The three Personas unleashed their combined explosive attacks like before. This time, the rider released a painful cry before it finally stopped moving.

Ren wiped the sweat on his brow and blew out a heavy sigh. "It's about time it died. That's definitely no ordinary Shadow."

"Just what I was thinking," Yu said, nodding a few times. He laid his blade down on the ground and slowly massaged his arms.

Ren approached Makoto who quietly examined the remains of the rider, its body charred with black. "Your hand to hand techniques kind of remind me of Makoto."

"I'm Makoto."

"No, I mean Makoto-senpai."

"I'm not your senpai."

"Uh, Makoto N."

"Makoto Y."

"…Girl Makoto."

"I'm a guy."

"Okay, stop right there." Yu moved in between them and placed a stop on their conversation. "This isn't going anywhere so since we're out of danger for now, let's get up to speed.

"Good idea," Ren said. He found a bench that was mostly in tact in front of what used to be a bakery and sat down.

Yu followed after him and sat down on another bench while Makoto opted to lean against a vending machine. "I guess we should start with the introductions. Since I know both of you, I'll go ahead and do that." He gestured towards Ren. "This is Ren Amamiya-kun, my junior at K University. We met a few times here and there, but mostly at the Fishing Club."

Ren tilted his head down a bit towards Makoto. "Hi."

Yu then gestured to Makoto. "This is Makoto Yuki-san. I met him a few years ago during an _incident_.

Makoto nodded his head.

"So you're both Persona users?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, it was pretty evident in that battle that we're all Persona users," Yu replied. "How did you awaken? It seems like you're pretty experienced already."

"It's a long story, but have you heard about the Phantom Thieves?"

Yu raised his eyebrows. "I seem to recall something like that a few years ago. You were one of them?"

"Yeah."

"It was pretty big news back then and I think you guys were involved with some strange things too."

"Pretty much."

Yu leaned in towards Makoto and whispered. "Were the Shadow Operatives involved as well?" Despite his attempt at secrecy, Ren's ears perked up at the mention of "Shadow Operatives."

Makoto shook his head. "We were busy with that thing in America at the time. Kirijo-senpai may have looked into it when she returned here, but I don't really know."

"So that's how it is." Yu crossed his arms and looked up at the sky. "Weird place we're in. Kind of like the TV world, but not the same."

"Did you say _TV world_?" Ren asked with a confused expression.

"Long story," Yu replied with a laugh.

"Kind of like the Dark Hour too," Makoto added.

"And what is _that_?" Ren grew more perplexed as the conversation continued.

"Yeah, long story. You have any idea of where we are?"

Ren paused and slowly swept the vicinity with his eyes. "Considering where I came in, it's likely the Metaverse. Really similar to _that_ moment, but without any people."

Yu's mouth formed a small circle. "Metaverse? Tell us more about it."

For the next few minutes, Ren gave them a rundown of what he knew about the Metaverse and the rules that applied to it. He even mentioned the events leading up to Yaldabaoth. "And that's most of the important parts," he said once he was finished with the explanation.

"Interesting, this place does sound similar to your Metaverse story. I was dragged into this world because of a weird portal in Shibuya too. Yuki-san?" The other two turned to Makoto who had remained mostly quiet throughout the explanation.

"Same with me. I saw something like a vortex of energy before being sucked into a portal in Shibuya."

"Then we might be in the Metaverse," Yu concluded.

"I'm still not so sure about that," Ren said, shaking his head. "I don't even know how to leave and not to mention that _thing_ doesn't appear to be a Shadow."

"What could it be then?"

"A demon," Makoto replied in a low voice. "It's doesn't feel like a Shadow."

"If you say so."

Ren appeared perplexed at the exchange that just happened, but didn't bring it up further.

Yu got back on his feet and stretched his arms and back. "We've talked enough, so we should start moving again. Let's look for whatever is causing this and deal with it."

"I'm fine with that," Ren said as he swung his knife once.

"I'd rather just look for an exit," Makoto said. "This just seems like a hassle."

"How can you say that?" Yu was shocked at the older man's nonchalant attitude. "Isn't the Shadow Operative's duty to deal with such things?"

"Yeah, but it's my day off," Makoto replied with a shrug.

Yu and Ren were rendered speechless for a long moment.

Makoto remained unfazed at their reaction. "Well, I'll still go along for now since there's not much else to do at this point."

A heavy sigh escaped Yu's mouth. "Then as for who would take on the leader role…" He glanced over at Makoto. "Yuki-san is older and more experienced after all."

"Don't mind me. You're doing a good job so far." Makoto flashed him with a thumbs up.

Yu then glanced over at Ren who shrugged his shoulders.

"I think you're doing fine too."

"Okay, I'll do that then."

Just as when they decided their next course of action, the ground began to shake underneath them.

Yu took a few steps towards the street they were heading down earlier. "Let's not dawdle any longer. Our first course of action is to search for an exit and then decide what to do from there. Along the way, keep your guard up and maintain your strength. Personas are to be used as necessarily. Who knows how long we'll be here so it's best to avoid expending too much energy from our Personas. Is that understood?"

"Crystal clear," Makoto replied with a half grin.

* * *

"You're all looking great!" The photographer exclaimed as he rapidly pressed his finger down on the camera shutter.

Ann had changed into an outfit that consisted of a denim mini skirt, black boots, and a short leather jacket over a silver colored top. She joined Yukari and Rise for the group photoshoots after each of their solo shots were completed.

The photoshoot proceeded smoothly and ended after about an hour. Some of the magazine staff remained in the large room, but the models were free to leave at this point. The three of them changed back into more comfortable casual clothes and dismissed their managers for the day.

"Yu-senpai still hasn't arrived," Rise murmured. She kept a positive expression during the entire shoot, but her smile quickly flipped upside down once it was over. That was something that Yukari could sympathize with at the moment. "What about Yuki-san?"

"The same," Yukari replied, trying to remain as calm as possible. She noticed Ann quietly looking down at her phone. "Don't tell me that you lost contact with somebody as well?"

Ann let out a quiet grunt in response. "Yeah, Ren-kun was on his way here, but that's over an hour already."

"Boyfriend?"

Ann nodded.

"This is too strange to be a coincidence." Yukari called Makoto and watched as Rise and Ann did the same while she waited for the call to go through. "He's not picking up either."

Both Rise and Ann voiced the same results when the ground suddenly began to tremble and the room shook back and forth. The mild tremble left as quickly as it suddenly arrived. The other staff members stopped what they were doing and quietly waited for any aftershocks. It didn't take long for them to resume their activities without much concern when the aftershocks never came.

However, what did appear was a red light that swept across the entire room. It was as if the room had suddenly turned into an old dilapidated place. Holes in the ceilings and rubble scattered throughout. The only people present were the three models.

"What's happening?" Rise asked as she withdrew closer to Yukari and Ann.

"No clue," Yukari replied, suddenly noticing how composed Ann was in the situation, or at least more composed than she expected of the young girl. "You wouldn't happen to know what's going on, do you?"

"Huh?" Ann appeared startled at the implication. "W-Why would I?"

Yukari raised an eyebrow, but didn't pursue the matter further. She went over to the corner and blew out a sigh of relief when she located her duffel bag. After rummaging through it, she pulled out a black compound bow. It was designed so that it can collapse into a more portable shape and can fit into her bag. "I don't think it's safe to stay here so let's go outside."

"Lead the way," Rise said. "What about you, Ann-chan?"

The platinum blond was moving around the room sifting through various objects until her eyes laid on a long piece of rope. "I guess this'll have to do." She smacked the ground with it like a whip and hurried back to the other two. "Okay, let's go."

Together, the three of them exit the building and immediately fell into a thick fog that covered much of the air.

"I don't think we're in Shibuya anymore," Rise noted.

"Probably the Metaverse actually," Ann added.

"What was that?" Yukari asked.

Instead of answering, Ann pointed to the sky where a hoard of winged creatures descended on them.

"Birds?" Rise squinted her eyes for a second before it nearly bulged out of her sockets. "Those aren't birds!"

The winged creatures had bat-like wings and most of its body consisted of a large single eyeball.

"Quickly take them out!" Yukari ordered.

"Do you even have any arrows, Yukari-san?" Ann asked.

"No need." Yukari placed her right hand onto the bow string and pulled it back. At where the arrow would normally be, a green light materialized in its place. It was in the shape of an arrow. She took careful aim and then released the green arrow. It launched with a notably loud bang. Like a missile, it flew up into the air and pierced the nearest creature. The green arrow exploded on contact and was able to take down some of the other creatures near it.

"Amazing," Ann exhaled, completely in awe at the spectacle.

"I can't fight, but I'll pin point their exact locations with Kouzeon's help," Rise said. All of a sudden, a large creature appeared behind her. It had a telescope for a head and a body of a woman in a white dress. Notably, there was what appeared to be floating circular objects rotating around her body.

Ann's jaw dropped at the sight while Yukari remained unfazed, opting to focus on her next target.

"Ann-chan, there's a group of them quickly coming down from at 2 o'clock," Rise announced. "Can you take care of them?"

"S-Sure." Ann snapped out of her stupor and refocused with determination. With the rope held tightly in her hands, she waited until the creatures appeared. To her surprised, they appeared exactly at where Rise said they would. She snapped the rope against the ground. "Come on!" Once the creatures came within range at eye level, she swung the rope and smacked several of them with one attempt.

Yukari took care of the targets at the far distance and Ann took care of the ones that got near them while Rise directed both of them on where to look. Despite not much experience fighting together, especially with Ann, the three of them were surprisingly efficient in defeating their enemies.

"Is it over?" Ann asked while she maintained her position and kept a lookout for any surprised attacks.

The ground shook heavily and continued after every two second interval.

"I think that answers your question," Yukari said, turning to Rise afterwards. "What can you see?"

"A large…thing," Rise vaguely replied. "And it's coming towards us."

The shaking grew stronger and occurred at a faster pace until from behind the building across the street, they saw a large creature that stood taller than a single-story building. It essentially looked like an elephant monster standing upright and just one single big eyeball on its head. In its hands were two sharp scimitars.

Without waiting for it to attack, Yukari fired a wind arrow at it, but it swiped it out of the air.

"Time for some extra firepower," Ann said as a burst of light appeared behind her that then materialized into a woman wearing a black leather tank top and skirt. Her most striking characteristic was the significantly long braided pig tails. "Do your magic, Celestine!"

The Persona gathered flames into her palm and then threw them at the elephant monster. When it tried to deflect the attack with its scimitar, the flames exploded on contact.

" _This isn't the time for questions, but actions."_ Yukari clenched her fist and turned to Rise. "Does it have any weaknesses?"

"None from what I can see!"

"Then we just have to keep attacking until it falls." Yukari returned her attention to the monster and raised her right arm into the air. "Appear, Isis!" As with Ann, a bright light had appeared behind Yukari which revealed a metallic being shaped like a floating cow head wearing a headdress with wings.

Isis' eyes glowed and a swirling tornado erupted right in front of the monster. Despite the powerful strength behind the whirling force, it did not strike fast enough so the monster hopped backwards to avoid the attack.

"We're going to need a clear shot," Yukari decided. "Ann-chan, it's up to us to open it up. Doesn't matter who, one of us needs to deliver the fatal blow when there's an opportunity."

"Sounds like a plan." Ann flashed a thumbs up and nodded.

"Leave the coordination to me." Rise added.

"Make sure to stay hidden in the meantime," Yukari advised.

"Of course."

The monster raised its trunk and released a trumpet that shattered the building's glasses. That signal its charge down the street, rattling the buildings with each step.

"Split up!" Yukari ordered before she sprinted towards the northwest behind several vehicles.

Rise leaped into a small store while Ann made her way to the adjacent building on the eastern side.

The monster ended up chasing after Yukari once the team divided. _"Good, try and keep up,"_ she thought before jumping onto the hood of a parked car. After another leap, she rotated her body mid-air and unleashed a surging shot at the monster.

Its speed decreased slightly to deflect the attack like before and then resumed its chase.

" _Back is completely exposed on Ann-chan's side."_ Rise announced.

"Got a clear shot," Ann said, another fireball shot toward the monster right after.

When Yukari saw that the monster noticed the surprised attack and began to turn its body around, she quickly fired multiple shots in succession. The attacks successfully pierced its side and did enough damage to flinch it, but it still blocked the fireball with its arms. "Good attempt, let's keep it up!"

Yukari resumed her sprint, but alter her path so that she circled around the monster. However, it noticed her presence so it slammed its blade down the ground and unleashed a shockwave that went flying towards her. She jumped out of the way, but the edge of her shoes still got clipped by the shockwave which knocked her body off balance in the air.

The monster didn't wait for a moment to continue its charge towards Yukari.

Ann took quick action and cracked her whip against the monster's back. The impact caused a loud screech that echoed throughout the block, causing the monster to release a stream of hot air from its trunk like a steam train. "Look this way, fatty. I'll whip you into shape."

With eyes bulging red, the monster turned all of its attention to Ann for the first time.

"Uh oh." Ann took a few steps backward while Celestine moved in front, beginning to gather flames into her palm. Before she could unleash it, the monster bashed her with its shoulders and knocked her away into a wall.

In the meantime, Yukari managed to land on her feet using her skillfully honed athletic abilities despite being launched off balance. She turned around and noticed the predicament that Ann was in. "No time for a focused attack, Isis." Her Persona's eyes glowed once more before she unleashed a wind blast from her mouth that landed squarely onto the monster's back. The attack forcefully pushed the monster down to the ground, falling head first.

" _Yukari-san, enter the clothing store near it so that you can close in on it without being detected,"_ Rise advised. _"Ann-chan, climb to the second floor of that café."_

"Alright, I'm heading there now."

Once the monster got back onto its feet, it looked around for Yukari and Ann, but couldn't locate them. Yukari had successfully sneaked through the clothing store from its side and was standing just right at its entrance where she got a clear view of the monster's legs, its back to her.

" _In two seconds, Yukari-san. Two…One…Now!"_

Isis unleashed a wind blast that swept the monster off its feet. This time it landed hard on its back that violently shook the ground.

At that point, Ann reached the second floor of the café and was standing at the edge where a wall used to be. She looked down at the completely exposed monster. "Time to end this, Celestine." Her Persona jumped off the ledge and released the charged fireballs from each of her hands. Like falling meteors, they fell onto the monster's fat stomach and exploded on impact.

The three Persona users remained silent and waited for any signs of life within the condensed smoke. It took about 30 seconds for the smoke to clear enough so that they could see the now charred body of the monster. Another 30 seconds went by and still no movement.

" _It's dead,"_ Rise declared.

Yukari blew out several sighs of relief before she regrouped with the others.

"That was amazing, Yukari-san," Ann said, holding up her palms.

"No, you're amazing," Yukari replied before giving Ann a hi-five.

"You're both wrong," Rise said as she hi-fived each of them. " _We're_ amazing."

"But wow, you're all Persona users too," Ann said while looking at Yukari and Rise in turn. Her breathing was still heavy from the battle.

"Coincidence?" Yukari asked nobody in particular. Before she could get an answer, their scenery began to flash a few times before they found themselves near the building where they had the photoshoot. Except this time, they were back in their original world. Their ears were bombarded with loud chattering from the large crowd moving through the area. All of the buildings remained intact as before and there were no monster bodies of any kind in the vicinity.

"Seems like we're back," Ann said, uncertainty in her voice.

* * *

"Hyah!" Ren launched himself up and made a deep cut on the leopard demon's chest.

Yu followed up with an electric cut on the opposite side so that the two slashes produced a large cross-shaped wound.

Makoto ended the combo with a spinning roundhouse kick to the leopard demon's head which made it stumbled backwards until it fell to the ground.

Arsene dealt the finishing blow by placing his hand on its face and ignited an explosion at point blank range.

Wielding two swords in its hands, the leopard demon had the speed of a leopard, but combat capability of a man. Despite all of that, it ended up less of a threat than the horseman they encountered earlier.

The trio took another break behind a large pile of debris that made good cover for anything else that walked by. Ren watched as Yu wipe the blood off his blade with a cloth. "I've been meaning to ask you, but how did you make lightning appear on your sword?"

"The short answer is Persona Augmentation."

"What's that?"

"Channeling power from the Persona to your body or a weapon by extension. In my case, I'm channeling Izanagi's lightning ability into my sword. Pretty cool, huh." Yu's lips curved into a childish grin.

"Yup, very cool."

"Yuki-san was the one who taught me." Yu tilted his head towards Makoto who was looking up at the sky absentmindedly.

"That explains that _flame fist_ earlier too."

"That's right." Yu finished wiping off the blood so that there wasn't any trace left of it from what they could see. "Let's continue?"

Without another word, the three continued down the street. A few minutes ago, they noticed a strange red pillar of light in the distant and decided to head towards it. Under the circumstances, they didn't have much of an alternative.

After ten minutes of walking, they entered a wide opened space. It was as if a tornado had descended right in the center and blew all of the buildings off to the side. That also meant the path they were going down was blocked by rubble at the end.

"Now what?" Yu asked, his frown growing larger by the second.

Ren placed a hand on his chin. "We can always try climbing them. It shouldn't be too hard."

"No choice-." Yu suddenly froze in his track mid-sentence.

Makoto and Ren did the same.

"You feel that?" Ren asked, clutching a hand to his chest. "This intense pressure?"

Makoto and Yu both nodded, their guards raised to the max.

From the end of the street where the obstacle was, a large beast ran through it from behind. It was a red skinned creature with seven heads. Riding on top of it was a skeleton clad in a purple robe and red veil, a golden chalice in her hand.

The monstrous beast charged at them like an unstoppable tank, but it surprisingly stopped several feet away from them. The skeleton chuckled as she took a swig from her chalice. "What luck for me to chance upon some lost humans."

"Who are you?" Yu demanded in a commanding tone, his hand on the katana's handle.

"I'm known as many names, but you may call me…Mother Harlot."

"Okay…Mother Harlot, what are you?" Ren asked. "Shadow?"

"Shadow?" Mother Harlot released a disturbing laugh, almost like a cackle.

"Then what?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"A demon," Makoto replied.

"Correct."

"Why have you come here? To us?"

"We're here for some fun, of course." The beasts growled and opened their mouths, revealing rows of sharp teeth and saliva oozing from them.

"We?"

"That's right," a voice echoed from above as a skeleton clad in a Buddhist monk's robe descended down next to Mother Harlot. His legs were crossed while he remained floating above the ground. "I am Daisoujou."

Following the skeleton monk was another skeleton that leapt out of the shadows and landed right next to him. This one was another skeleton dressed as a Spanish bullfighter. "Matador," he said in a raspy voice.

" _It's probably a good time to get some answers,"_ Makoto thought despite the dangerous situation they were in. "Does this mean that you all came from a demon world?"

"It is as you surmised, human. The demon world will soon take over your world. It's just a matter of time."

Yu and Ren let out a shocked gasp while Makoto crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"Yuki-san, what's on your mind?" Yu asked.

"New story material."

"What?"

"Never mind." Makoto entered a fighting stance. "This is what you meant by fun, right?"

Mother Harlot released a high pitch laugh. "What else could it be? My beast is hungry and the first to become its meal is…" She raised a finger and slowly moved it from Makoto to Ren. "I like the way he looks, especially when ripped into bloody shreds!" Her beast then began its rampage towards Ren who quickly jumped out of its path.

"The blue one is mine," Matador declared and then drew his sword in one hand while carrying a red cloth attached to a rod in another. "I sense that you're a great swordsman. It's a shame that you don't have a sword with you, but I'll still enjoy this all the same. In the next moment, the Matador appeared right in front of Makoto as if he suddenly teleported. His sword shot out like a bullet and grazed Makoto's arm.

* * *

While Ren and Makoto were engaged in their fights, the skeleton monk, Daisoujou remained floating at a distance.

Yu had his sword raised as he braced for the impending attack which to his surprised, didn't come as quickly as the others did. _"Just what is he planning?"_

"Impatience, are we?" The monk remarked with a laugh. "Then I won't keep you waiting any longer." He rang a bell and then right after, a blast of bright light exploded right next to Yu's leg and destroyed the pile of rubble. It was just by complete instinct that his body moved to avoid the attack without any input from his mind. He would have lost an arm and leg if he waited any second longer.

Yu summoned Izanagi and the Persona quickly fired off an electric bolt.

Daisoujou effortlessly evaded the attack by floating to the side.

Yu had anticipated the evasive action so he had already begun closing in while Izanagi unleashed his attack. He swung his blade multiple times, but his attacks were swiftly avoided each time.

"What's wrong?" The monk laughed before he rang his bell again. Beams of light rained down on Yu.

The beams covered such a large area that the best Yu could do was to move within the space between each beam. However, that was a difficult considering he had less than a foot in space to maneuver in between. _"I can do this, just need to concentrate."_ He was able to avoid a few of them in succession, but completely forgot about Izanagi who suddenly got struck by the beam. The damage sent a shock through Yu's mind and froze him on his spot. Fortunately, the attacks had just ended at that point.

"I'm afraid that this will end too quickly," Daisoujou sadly lamented.

"Don't bet on it!" Yu roared and quickly jumped into the air and unleashed a downward slash with all of his might.

As expected, Daisoujou avoided that attack, but Izanagi had sneaked up behind him and released a horizontal swipe. The subsequent attack took Daisoujou by surprised so he had to block the attack with his right arm, but due to Izanagi's strength, a small cracked appeared on the bony arm.

Yu didn't did let up and was about to unleash several followup slashes, but a powerful force sent him flying several feet back.

"That was admittedly, quite surprising," Daisoujou said. "I think it's time I take it up a notch." He rang the bell and several more Daisoujou appeared, all identical to one another and numbering at a dozen in total. "Try and find the real one," they all called out before ringing their bells. Just like before, beams of light appeared and flew towards Yu.

Izanagi quickly grabbed onto Yu and dropped him off at a safe distance.

Yu raised his blade and pointed it straight up. "We're going to take them all out at the same time, Izanagi."

The Persona flew high up into the air as his body began to glow.

"Now!" Yu cried out.

Izanagi spun his blade and then pointed it at the Daisoujou group. Large bolts of lightning shot out of the air and struck each of the monks.

"Too bad," Daisoujou's voice reverberated around Yu. Then the bolts of lightning that had supposedly struck the group of Daisoujou, were repelled back at Izanagi.

The Persona covered his body with his arms when the lightning bolts all converged onto him. The damage was considerable as Izanagi fell down to the ground with smoke rising from his body.

Yu gripped his head in pain and bent his body over, nearly collapsing to the ground.

"You've done well, but I'm afraid it's over," Daisoujou said.

"I agree," Yu muttered after shaking his head a few times. "It's time I end this."

The charred body of Izanagi glowed and floated up into the air. A bright ball of light engulfed his body and then after a flash, another Persona appeared in Izanagi's place. Similar to Izanagi himself, this new Persona appeared in nearly all white clothing.

Yu slowly unbuttoned his vest so that the hem flapped against the wind. "Izanagi no Okami…" He threw his fist in the direction of the Daisoujou group. "Do it."

Izanagi no Okami spun his blade like a helicopter propeller and gathered energy into it before unleashing a massive shockwave slash upon the skeletons. The ground shook on impact and they remained floating in their spots as if they didn't move an inch.

"You'll have to try better than that," Daisoujou gloated. The group rang their bells and beams of light descended onto the Persona.

Instead of trying to guard the beams, Izanagi no Okami swung his blade and scattered the beams.

"Reveal the truth and destroy all illusions!" Yu shouted to the heavens.

Izanagi no Okami released his blade and levitated it in the air. As his hands glowed, the blade began to spin once more. Static electricity crackled from its center.

While the energy was building, Daisoujou rang his bells once more and fired the beams at the Persona.

"Now!" Yu ordered.

Izanagi no Okami grabbed onto the blade and pointed it at the monks. All of the gathered energy separated into multiple blasts that devoured Daisoujou's beams and struck each of its bodies.

Yu placed a finger on the bridge of his glasses. "There's no escaping now."

One of the blasts struck a Daisoujou body that had been invisible through the naked eye.

The copies disappeared after the main body fell to the ground, a gaping hole remained in place of his ribs and a portion of his skull. "Well done, human," he croaked before his body was reduced to ashes.

* * *

Ren ran with all of his might and every few seconds, he would look back to see the beast inching closer and closer to him. He didn't run for very long, but was starting to feel slightly winded. "I shouldn't have put off those running sessions with Ryuji in these last few months."

"Run, run, run or else!" Mother Harlot shouted with immense thrill.

" _Ah shit, she's right behind me now."_ Ren quickly summoned Arsene as he felt the beast's breath on his back. He swiftly pivoted his foot and jump to the side while Arsene dived down and slashed the beast's face with his sharp claws, leaving deep bloody cuts on its face.

The beast's momentum didn't stop from the attack however so it rammed right into Arsene's body.

Ren jumped onto the beast and slammed his knife down one of the beast's skull. It howled in pain and while the knife remained in its skull, Ren turned his body and stared straight into the eyes of the Harlot who appeared amused by his threatening gaze.

"Keep this up and you'll be the best meal for my pet," she said with a laugh.

Ren pulled the knife out. "You talk too much." He swung his blade at the Harlot, but before he could reach her, an arm shot out and she tightly wrapped her bony fingers over his neck. He gasped for air and felt his vision darkening as the seconds flew by.

The Harlot took a swig from the chalice and blew out a purple gas right into his face. His vision became even more blurry and his breathing grew haggard. A wild kick to her abdomen allowed him to escape her grasp, but unable to concentrate afterwards, he lost his balance and fell to the ground hard. His body rolled several times before it came to a stop at a wall.

The beast ran past him when he fell, but was already circling back towards him.

He couldn't see the beast clearly through his watery eyes, but he could feel the ground tremors getting stronger and stronger. Fortunately, his strength was returning so he managed to get back on his feet. "That thing is like a tank," he muttered before he took a deep breath. "I'll have to slow it down."

Once the beast came within striking distance, Arsene gathered a large amount of dark energy into his hands and then fired at it. The attack was enough to defeat many Shadows with just one shot, but the beast was unfazed by it as if it got struck by a mere water balloon.

The beast leapt into the air and took down Arsene from the air, pinning him down on the ground. The many heads bared their fangs as their mouths opened wide.

Arsene raised one arm and unleashed a barrage of needles into the beast's eyes. It barely fazed the beast, but was still enough for Arsene to swiftly maneuver out of the beast's powerful front legs.

"Such a crafty creature," Mother Harlot remarked, raising her chalice. "But sadly, it has its limits." A massive block of ice materialized and launched at Arsene like a speeding bullet. The block exploded on contact, knocking Ren off his feet.

A groan escaped Ren's mouth as he looked up and saw Arsene's body was completely frozen. The Harlot shot a look at him before the beast charged after the Persona. Ren gritted his teeth and clenched the handle on his knife. _"There's only one chance."_ He threw the knife and it landed right into the beast's side which left it momentarily stunned enough for Ren to sprint towards Arsene. Once the beast recovered, Ren reached his Persona and grabbed onto the chain that was attached to the Persona, but had been invisible up until this point.

"What else can you do to futilely delay the inevitable?" Mother Harlot asked.

Ren smirked and held up the chain. "Inevitable? There's only your destruction." He crushed the chain and a powerful surge of energy erupted from Arsene. The surge grew bigger and bigger until it was several times larger than before. A shockwave shot out of it and from it, appeared a massive black and gray Persona with six large bat-like wings.

"The fun's just beginning," Mother Harlot declared. Her beast then charged forward and leapt at the new Persona.

Flapping his powerful wings, the Persona stopped the beast in mid-air and blew it back down to the ground. Next, he gathered energy into his hands and then threw it down onto the Harlot and her beast. A powerful explosion engulfed the ground where they stood, but it still wasn't enough to defeat the demonic creatures.

"You fool, is that all you have?" Mother Harlot crushed her chalice and a dark aura surrounded her and her beast.

"Not at all," Ren replied. "Satanael, finish her."

The large Persona produced a gun with an incredibly long barrel and aimed it at the Harlot.

"Your life, is mine." Ren formed a gun with his right hand and pointed it at the same target. "Bang."

Satanael fired his gun and the bullet flew straight at the demonic creatures. Even their incredible durable bodies weren't enough to withstand the bullet's power causing them to shatter into pieces. Before Mother Harlot's was completely reduced to ashes, she let out one final laugh.

"Good riddance," Ren muttered.

* * *

"I've been called a Grim Reaper," Matador said as he swung his blade multiple times at Makoto. "I've killed and killed countless bulls until I no longer cared. Nothing could move me. However, I quickly learned that only the slaughter of humans can still satisfy this thirst of mine!" He swung his blade towards Makoto's abdomen, but Orpheus moved in to intercept it with his harp. "I can taste it already, that feeling of my blade piercing your skin over and over."

"Just try it," Makoto said, moving in to deliver an uppercut to the Matador's abdomen.

"That's what they always say before they get skewered by my blade." The bullfighter parried Makoto's punch with his rod and then followed up with several quick thrusts that alternated between Makoto and Orpheus.

Makoto bent his knees and bobbed and weaved from side to side to avoid the incoming thrusts.

"Interesting," Matador remarked with enthusiasm. "Your body moves very well even without a sword."

"What makes you think I even use a sword?" Makoto shot out a kick aimed at the skeleton's side.

"Trust me, you can't hide it from me." The Matador pivoted his foot and spun his body to avoid the kick.

Makoto backflipped so that there was enough space for Orpheus to unleash several pillars of flames that erupted from just below the Matador. The flames then destructed into a fiery explosion.

Leaping out from behind the flames was the Matador, his clothes partially burned, but otherwise he sustained very little harm from the attack. His blade flew at Makoto like a speeding arrow.

Makoto rotated his body to the right and narrowly avoided the sharp blade, his skin tingling from the close proximity. He then rotated his body to the left at the second thrust, but this time, felt the searing pain of cold steel. After jumping back several times to create some space, he placed a hand on his side and winced in pain. _"This is a lot more difficult than I'd hoped without a weapon."_

Noticing the injury he caused, the Matador ran a bony finger down the bloodied blade. "It seems I am the faster one." He swung his blade down and sent a shockwave flying at Makoto. The attack was fast, but still easily avoidable.

Makoto began to circle around the Matador after evading the attack, but the Matador wasted no time to close the gap. Once the skeleton fiend got within 10 feet of him, Orpheus appeared and slammed his harp down onto the Matador. As expected, the attack was cleanly blocked and Makoto tried to do a quick followup right after, but the Matador swiftly threw a sword that pierced Makoto deep in his thigh. That left Orpheus alone to deal with the powerful bullfighter.

The Persona swung his harp once more, but was suddenly draped by the large red cape.

The Matador released a screeching laugh and removed the cape, revealing Orpheus had been completely skewered by multiple swords. "How do you like my art?"

Makoto's head throbbed in pain as the Matador materialized an additional blade and ran it through Orpheus' chest, causing him to fall to the ground.

"It was a valiant effort, but you're no match for me, human." The Matador released his screeching laugh once more and placed a foot on Orpheus' head.

* * *

After Ren defeated the Harlot, he met up with Yu who was standing on top of a car, watching Makoto's battle from a distant. "You have an incredible Persona, senpai. I could feel his power even while I was fighting that Harlot."

"I could say the same about yours." Yu's mouth then dropped to the ground when he saw Makoto fall to his knee.

"We got to save him," Ren said, already taking a few steps towards the battle.

"Wait," Yu quickly called out.

Ren turned around, perplexed that Yu hadn't budge from his spot. "Why?"

"…Just wait," Yu calmly replied. "Let's just give him some more time."

"But he'll die!"

"I'd be disappointed if he did."

* * *

Intense pain ran throughout Makoto's body, one hand clutching his head while the other clutched his bleeding side. Oblivious to the Matador's laugh, all he could hear was the beating of his heart like a drum in an enclosed space. The sound gradually grew louder and louder and the strength that left his body earlier had returned with a new intense surge. He gritted his teeth and painfully pulled out the sword from his thigh and threw it away. "You celebrated too earlier," he said with a growl.

"Hmm? Is there still some fight left in you?"

Makoto let out a violent roar towards the heavens, causing Orpheus to suddenly do the same.

The Matador took his foot off of Orpheus and took several steps back. He quietly watched as Orpheus' body glowed with a dark light that forcefully pushed the demonic bullfighter back even further. The ominous red sky that overlooked the desolated world had grown murky with dark thundering clouds.

While facing up at the sky, Orpheus' mouth had opened wide enough that a dark arm was able to rise out of it from deep within. A second arm followed after and together, the arms pulled against Orpheus' mouth until it not only tore it open, but Orpheus' entire body as well. From within appeared a large creature in a black robe and a steel demonic helmet. Comprised of multiple coffins attached together by a chain, its wings opened as it slowly levitated into the air. It released a deafening ghastly wail and drew its long sword.

The Matador release a low hiss and raised his cape and sword. "So many secrets within that small body. Just what are you?"

Makoto grunted and slowly approached the Matador. His hair and eyes had turned completely black and the wounds on his thigh and right side began to close and heal. "Does it matter? You're going to die soon anyway by mine and Thanatos' hands."

"You're still just a human!" The Matador leapt at Makoto, but Thanatos quickly blocked the way, forcing him to change targets. "Let's see what you're made of!" He released several quick slashes and thrusts to the Persona, but it blocked each strike. "Is that all!? You're too slow!" He swung his blade once more at an even greater speed and made a cut across Thanatos' chest.

Despite the clean cut, Thanatos remained unfazed by the attack. It swung his blade and the Matador moved quickly to counter attack with another slash, but the dark creature's blade sliced right through the Spanish blade and delivered a clean cut on the Matador's chest. Its arm then shot out and grabbed the skeleton by the neck. After releasing a thunderous roar, it slammed him down to the ground. Left arm raised, it gathered dark energy into its hand before slamming it down on the Matador.

However, the Matador was able to break free in the nick of time and avoided most of the destructive damage from its hand that left a large gaping hole on the ground.

The dark Persona continued its onslaught and fired an electric beam directly at the retreating Matador. An explosion erupted on contact and covered the area with dense smoke and dust.

Suddenly, the Matador came flying out of it and sped past Thanatos like a rocket.

Instead of chasing after the Matador, Thanatos threw its sword at Makoto who managed to catch it just right before the bullfighter made contact with the Persona user.

"Isn't this what you want, a sword fight?" Makoto asked, crossing blades with the sword that the Matador materialized.

The Matador leaned his head close to Makoto's face, a putrid stench exuded from his mouth. "That I did."

The two clashed multiple times with each sequence consisting of a parry then a counterattack from one person, then the same with the other. They appeared to be on equal levels. The longer and heavier sword was not something that Makoto was accustomed to so his balance and movement was out of his usual rhythm.

"I expected better honestly," the skeleton remarked, his eyes glowing redder.

"Not having fun?" Makoto closed his mouth, held his breath and focused his senses. He thrust the sword at the Matador's neck, prompting the bullfighter to move his sword to block it. However, Makoto's attack changed direction in the last minute and headed toward the right hip. The feint caused the Matador to be a half step behind to properly defend the new target. But once more, Makoto made a second feint and before the Matador could react, his left arm was sent flying along with his sword. "You're not the only Grim Reaper here."

The Matador let out a growl and swung the rod in his right hand, but Thanatos appeared and smacked the skeleton with its forearm, knocking him to the ground. The impact was so strong that the Matador didn't get back up for several seconds. It was Thanatos who propped him back up before throwing him like a baseball. While the skeleton was still flying through the air, Thanatos raised its gray hand and thrust its palm out in his direction. Once that happened, the Matador's body suddenly froze mid-flight. Then, his body began to squirm as Thanatos' palm slowly closed. Once its palm was completely shut, it released an unsettling laugh and the Matador's body exploded, leaving nothing but ashes.

Makoto's chest heaved up and down while his breathing became haggard. When he heard footsteps coming from his right side, Thanatos growled and shot a murderous look in that direction.

Yu and Ren abruptly stopped in their tracks. "Is that a Persona?" Ren whispered.

"I still don't even know," Yu replied, shaking his head.

Makoto narrowed his eyes for a moment before his hair returned to his usual blue and Thanatos disappeared. "Looks like we all pulled through."

"You can say that again," Ren said with a crooked smile. "I think some questions are better left unasked, huh."

Makoto raised a perplexed eyebrow and blew out a sigh. He was more exhausted than expected. _"I'm starting to feel old."_ After catching his breath, he noticed Yu's vest slowly fluttering, all of its buttons intact. "Did you unbutton your vest?"

"I did. Something wrong with it?" Yu began to button his vest. "I didn't want it to rip during the fight after all."

"Uh-huh." Makoto was skeptical, but didn't care enough to bother with it any longer.

"So what now?" Ren asked. As if waiting for him to ask that, they heard a sharp crack like a lightning strike coming from behind a restaurant. They exchanged quick glances before they hurried over to the source of the sound and came upon a swirling blue portal. It was hazy, but they could see a scene of the Shibuya streets that they were familiar with.

"If I had to guess, this will bring us back home," Yu surmised. He glanced over at Makoto. "Still intent on leaving?"

"I could use a rest at least."

Ren rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm still willing to help you out with this, but I think a temporary break will prove more helpful."

Yu sighed and lightly nodded. "Yeah, I agree. With the way things have been going, I doubt it'd be hard to get back here later."

Now that the decision was made, the three of them walked through the mysterious portal.

* * *

The three girls turned their attention to the loud crash coming from the alleyway next to the photo shoot building.

"Uh, what was that?" Ann glanced over at Rise who shrugged her shoulders.

"Beats me, I don't sense any Shadows or anything like that."

"We should check it out just to be sure," Yukari decided, readying her bow.

They cautiously circled around the building and approached the alleyway. Instead of monsters or Shadows, what welcomed them were three groaning familiar young men.

"Why do we fall down when we just walk through it?" Ren complained as he slowly got back on his feet.

"Ah!" Rise's mouth and eyes opened wide. "Yu-senpai!"

Ann ran over to the young man with disheveled hair. "Ren-kun, what're you doing here?"

"Ann?" Ren raised a perplexed eyebrow as his eyes shot from Ann to the other girls.

"How about an explanation?" Yukari asked as she helped Makoto up. The splotches of red on his shirt and pants didn't go unnoticed. "Are you alright?" Whatever wound had left the blood on his clothes, was not visibly apparent in her inspection.

"I'm fine," he replied and dismissed her concern with a light wave. "Why don't we sit and talk somewhere else?"

* * *

The six Persona users gathered around a table outside a nearby café. Ren and Yu ordered coffee while the three girls ordered iced tea. As for Makoto, the waitress placed down a loaded strawberry milkshake in front of him. After taking a spoonful of the cold treat, he noticed the others staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing weird with you eating a strawberry milkshake at a time like this," Yukari responded with a grin before she got the conversation back on track. "Okay, so let's talk about what happened."

* * *

The men recalled that they were on their way to the studio when they got transported to the other world by what was seemingly a portal. While there, they fought powerful demonic like creatures and were able to return through another portal. As for the women, they mentioned that they were forcefully brought to another world after their photo shoot.

"Why didn't we go through any portals?" Yukari asked, running a hand through her hair. "Did we even go to the same world?"

Rise shook her head. "When I did a scan of the other world, it felt like we were on the edge between worlds."

Ann narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. "And that means…?"

"Kind of like being on the border of both our world, and this other world. Not completely in one or the other so maybe that's why we keep drifting through each world without much notice. While the guys went through specialized entrances that brought them deeper inside. But I don't really know." Rise shrugged her shoulders.

The group pondered at the situation in silence, figuring out what everything meant.

Makoto leaned against his seat and gazed out at the busy street. At some point, the others did the same and were audibly startled when the scenery began to shift into the decayed world and then back to normal. None of the people passing by seemed to notice.

Ann released a gasp when the phenomenon occurred nearly a dozen times before it stopped.

Ren narrowed his eyes and clenched his fist. "We can't ignore something like this. If we do, it might turn into something like _that_." He placed his hand down at the table's center and shot a look at Ann who nodded and placed her hand on top of his.

"I'm with you. This might lead to the destruction of Tokyo or worse..."

"I was planning on solving this from the start," Yu added, looking at each of their faces. "We have friends and family that we have to protect. With our powers combined, I know we can do just that." Another hand down.

"As expected of Yu-senpai." Rise wrapped her arms around Yu's arm and rested her head against it. "If you're going, then I'm going too." Then there were four.

All eyes then fell onto Makoto again, but it was Yukari who spoke up. "It's not our duty to solve every crisis, but in this situation, we're the senpai, right?" She placed a hand on top of Makoto's. "No matter what, we are part of both worlds. So we should join them too."

Makoto placed his mouth on the colorful swirly straw and drank some of the milkshake. After slowly swallowing, he released a sigh. "I'll just have to take a day off tomorrow too, I guess."

Yukari's lips formed into a smile as the others cheered. She placed her hand on top of Rise's hand and Makoto followed right after.

"What about the Shadow Operatives?" Rise asked. "Can they help?"

Ann furrowed her eyebrows. "The what?"

"I think Mitsuru is out of the country at the moment and so are most of its members," Yukari replied. She glanced over at Makoto who quietly nodded. "It's not like we have time to call them all up anyway."

Yu grunted and crossed his arms. "I could use Yosuke's and the others help too, but they aren't here."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that we skipped out on _that_ trip," Ren remarked. "We wouldn't be here otherwise."

"Yeah, so we can't call _them_ here either," Ann added with a frown.

"At least we seem to be in capable company here." A wry smile appeared on Ren's face as he ran his eyes around the table. "Kind of like a super team."

Yu abruptly leapt out of his seat and pumped his fist. "Each second is going to count, so let's go."

Yukari raised an arm. "My apartment is nearby so can I return there to get some things?"

"Of course."

* * *

After a ten-minute walk, they arrived at Yukari's apartment. It was leased in her name, but Makoto also contributed to the rent and stayed there while he was in Tokyo. The other members had opted to wait outside in the hallways while only Makoto and Yukari entered the spacious apartment which consisted of one bedroom, a bathroom and an opened kitchen overlooking the living room.

A television set, an entertainment center, two sofas, and a low table comprised of the living room's main furniture. Only the tower of cds had really belonged to Makoto. As for Yukari, she had a number of Feathermen memorabilia inside a glass cabinet and various posters of Yukari as a model that hung on the wall.

"What are you going to get?" Makoto asked after taking a swig from a water bottle in the fridge.

"I'm going to change clothes and bring some arrows just in case," she replied before entering the bedroom. "What about you?"

"A change of clothes sounds nice. I'll need my blade too." He entered the bedroom and walked past Yukari who had already began changing into a short-sleeved light pink collared shirt and vanilla colored pair of shorts. From inside the closet, he grabbed a short sleeved blue and white dress shirt and a pair of jeans. After changing into them, he pulled out a katana that was sheathed in its scabbard. Its weight gave him a reassuring feeling in his hand. Once he hooked it through his belt, he squeezed into a pair of fingerless black gloves. When the first glove was in, he felt a pair of arms reaching out from behind him.

Yukari's hands locked together while her arms held tightly onto him from behind.

"Long day?" He asked in a soft voice.

"A bit," she replied, her response sounded muffled against his back. "I just need to recharge for a bit." After several seconds flew by, her hands separated and ran one hand down the side where Makoto suffered a wound from the Matador. "It's all healed, huh."

"Of course."

"Even with your abilities, that doesn't mean you should be reckless."

Makoto turned around so that he was now face to face with Yukari. "Don't worry, I won't." He leaned his face closer to her while his eyes remained glued to her brown eyes. Their lips nearly touching when they heard somebody loudly cleared his throat. With their bodies frozen in place, Makoto whispered, "I thought you locked the door."

"I thought you did," Yukari quickly whispered back.

A few more awkward seconds flew by before the pair swiftly separated.

Makoto fixed his collar and began walking past the group. "Let's not waste any more time."

Yukari followed closely after; her face tinged with a crimson red.

* * *

The group returned to the alleyway where the men had appeared. The portal had remained so Ren had placed several orange cones in front of the alleyway's entrance earlier to prevent any trespassing.

There was no hesitation as they walked through the portal and soon found themselves in the other world. It was the same as the others had witnessed earlier.

"Looks like we're back from where we left off," Ren remarked after running a quick look through their surroundings. "Yeah, definitely where we left off."

"Which way do we go?" Ann asked.

"I detect some kind of energy coming from over there," Rise said, pointing to the pillar of light in the distant.

"Back on track then," Yu said and lead the way around some rubble and towards the light.

Once the group cleared the rubble, they encountered another large clearing where originally tall buildings had collapsed to the side of the road. Not only did they have a clear view of the path ahead of them, so did the creatures at the far side. There was approximately a dozen of them gathering around a fallen advertisement board. Standing taller than 7 feet, the red skinned humanoid creatures had horns on their head. In their muscular arms were large clubs. They loudly made their approach once they noticed the Persona users.

"So…uh…Ogres, right?" Ann remarked as she scratched her head. "I think I've seen them in books before."

The Ogres hulking bodies picked up speed and further demolished the buildings along the way. All it took was one swing of their mighty clubs to shatter lampposts, cars, furniture or whatever objects that happened to be near them.

"Whatever they are, we should get ready for a fight," Yu said, taking a step forward.

Makoto suddenly extended his right arm and blocked Yu from going any further. "No need to waste your energy on small fries." He walked several feet down the road while the others remained at the back.

The Ogre at the front of the group slowed his approach once he made eye contact with Makoto. His heavy footsteps came to a stop when there was only a six feet gap between them.

Makoto calmly placed his right hand on his scabbard near the katana's guard. His left hand dangled loosely at his side.

The intensity began to build between the two of them as the Ogre looked at Makoto with his red beady eyes. It released a roar and raised its club arm. In the next instance, a blinding light severed the Ogre's head cleanly from his body, dark blood streamed out of the lump on his neck like a broken water hydrant. The very same blood slid down Makoto's blade and dripped to the ground.

" _Ichigeki Hissatsu (One Strike, Certain Kill)."_

Ann released a yelp when the Ogre's head fell down near her foot.

The brutal killing had left the other Ogres stunned for a few seconds, but it didn't last. They quickly overcame their shock and resumed their charge like a herd of rhinos.

Makoto swung his blade once and scattered the blood to the ground. Despite the large numbers he was facing, he remained composed and relaxed his muscles. The ground continued to shake under the Ogres' large weight like a number of big semi-trailers running down the street. After he released a deep breath, he slightly bent his knees and disappeared. What happened after was like a flashing ball of light that bounced from one Ogre to another and it left a surging turbulent trail of energy in its wake. It was over in the blink of an eye.

Behind the Ogres that froze in their tracks, Makoto silently reappeared like a ghost. He slowly sheathed his katana and kept his head bent down. Once the blade had completely returned inside the scabbard, he looked up and all at once, the Ogres all instantly cried out in pain. Blood spewed out of the wounds that were inflicted all over their bodies. The disturbing scene didn't end there as their bodies then split apart like sliced onions.

" _Kousoku Hakairyoku Akatsuki (Lightspeed Destructive Force: Daybreak)."_

Makoto walked back to the group and was met with a few gaping mouths.

"Good work," Yukari said with a large grin.

Makoto nodded his head in response and gazed over in the direction of the light pillar.

"He wasn't kidding about the small fry thing," Ren said with still shocked eyes. "I sometimes thought I was in an anime, but never like _that_."

Yu placed a hand on Ren's shoulder. "He was a national kendo champion for multiple years after all."

"I don't think that explains things!" Ann exclaimed, still visibly perplexed at what happened.

* * *

Moments later, the trail to the light pillar led the group to a rundown train station plaza. The red light rose to the sky from somewhere below a large gaping hole in the ground.

Ren dropped a rock into it as the others held their breath. Seconds flew by and they still heard nothing. "Doesn't seem like a good idea to jump down."

A violent tremor shook the ground, the strongest they felt in the whole day which forced the Persona users to tightly hang on to light poles and other objects to maintain their balance. Despite their efforts though, a powerful red surge of energy erupted from the hole like a gushing geyser. The force from it knocked all of them down to the ground.

Once the eruption ended, an enormous red ball of light floated up to the surface and into the air. It let out a menacing and distorted laugh.

"The strange source of energy in this world is coming from that," Rise quickly pointed out.

The laughter got louder as the ball of light glowed even brighter to the point that the Persona users had to cover their eyes with their arms. When the light returned to normal, they lowered their arms and were flabbergasted at the massive creature in front of their eyes, big enough to be seen from miles away.

"N-No way, impossible," Ann stammered, taking a few steps back.

Ren gritted his teeth and tightly gripped his knife.

The creature that appeared had a red steel body in a humanoid shape. From its back were steel like wings that altogether, made it resembled an angel of sorts. However, its extremely large size and the red aura coursing around its body had made it seem menacing.

"FINALLY! THE TRICKSTER REAPPEARS BEFORE ME!" The creature cackled and pointed a long finger in Ren's direction.

"Do you know what that is?" Yukari asked.

"It's Yaldabaoth," Ren replied with a hiss.

"Wait, you mean it's that thing that was causing all those problems for you guys? I thought you defeated it?"

"We did," Ann replied. "It looks kind of different, but there's no mistake. It's that bastard who toyed with us."

"How are you alive!" Ren shouted. "And what happened to you?"

Yaldabaoth release a growl that shook the ground. "TRUE…I WAS DEFEATED. BUT AS I WAS DRIFTING THROUGH THE DARKNESS AND SLOWLY DISSAPPEARING, I CAME INTO CONTACT WITH SOMETHING." It raised its arm and the red aura around its body grew thicker. "IT WAS _HE_ WHO GAVE ME LIFE AGAIN. AND NOW, ALL I WANT TO DO IS DESTROY EVERY SINGLE HUMAN!"

Ren shook his head. "No, you've been corrupted by something. You've changed."

The metallic entity released a deafening laugh. "YES! I'VE BECOME MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU CAN EVEN IMAGINE. SOON, THE DEMON WORLD WILL DEVOUR YOURS AND BRING AND END TO YOUR PITIFUL LIVES!"

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Ren loudly replied and then glanced over at the others. An understanding formed between all of them.

"That's right," Yu added. "You'll have to contend with _us_ as well. Let's go everyone!" He summoned Izanagi no Okami and had him fly closer to Yaldabaoth.

"FOOLISH HUMANS!"Yaldabaoth raised its arms and generated a large amount of energy into its hands. "YOU JUST DON'T LEARN!" The released energy rain down on the Persona users and while none actually hit their marks, the impact was close enough for them to get caught in the ensuing explosions.

At this point, everybody summoned their Personas and followed after Izanagi no Okami's lead. With a mighty swing, Izanagi no Okami released a shockwave that exploded on Yaldabaoth's body on contact.

Isis released her surging wind blast while Celestine followed up with a blazing fire blast of her own.

From the right side, Satanael unleashed balls of energy from his hands while Thanatos fired an electric beam from its mouth.

All of the Personas' projectiles exploded on Yaldabaoth's body, but after the smoke cleared, they noticed that it came out relatively unharmed.

"Guys, I sense an incredible amount of power from it, more than anything I've ever felt," Rise communicated to the others. Her eyes were shut closed as she stood within Kouzeon's transparent body. "It also has a shield that's absorbing all of your attacks!"

"Yuki-san, any ideas?" Yu asked.

Before Makoto could answer, a shockwave blast shot out from Yaldabaoth's body and knocked the Personas out of the air. Even the near equally large Satanael was brought down.

"IT'S FUTILE." Yaldabaoth raised its arms and released a barrage of energy balls onto the Persona users like a hail storm. Each of the energy balls completely destroyed the buildings around them including the piles of rubble.

The things they could use for covers were quickly dwindling down.

Yaldabaoth then released a toxic red mist that blanketed much of the area.

"Rise, any weaknesses you can detect?" Yu asked, coughing several times after inhaling the mist. He and the other Persona users' breathing grew haggard the longer they stayed within the mist.

"I've been scanning the whole time and I can't find any weaknesses or any part that it's vulnerable."

Yu clicked his tongue and then ordered at the top of his lungs. "Hit it with everything you have!"

Izanagi no Okami flew up into the air and began to spin his double-bladed sword and generated energy into it. Once it had reached peak levels, it unleashed the energy into multiple blasts.

Isis' body glowed before it summoned an enormous cyclone that descended down on Yaldabaoth. Meanwhile, Yukari fired arrows infused with wind energy after another.

Celestine gathered flames into her hands. Once she unleashed them, it formed a beam and shot out like a burning laser.

Satanael loaded a bullet into his gun and carefully took aim. The barrel began to heat up at an extremely high temperature. Before it got enough for the gun to explode, he pulled the trigger and fired the bullet with a thunderous bang.

Thanatos raised its arms and summoned dark portals near Yaldabaoth that fired dark energy blasts from it.

As all of the Personas' attacks came flying at Yaldabaoth, it gathered immense energy near its mouth. Just right before the Persona attacks made contact, Yaldabaoth unleashed a massive red energy blast that devoured the Persona attacks and continued on a head on collision with the Persona users.

" _Not on my watch."_

Makoto quickly recalled Thanatos and together they stood in front of the group. He placed a hand against the dark Persona's back while it erected a barrier at the front. The energy blast struck the barrier hard and continued to push through it, inch by inch. The barrier was on the verge of collapse when Makoto glanced back at the group. "Run!" He shouted.

"I'm not leaving you!" Yukari frantically replied, taking a few steps towards him.

"Get her out!"

Yu clicked his tongue and forcefully pulled Yukari away.

The group ran several meters away and dropped down a ditch when Yaldabaoth's blast completely shattered the barrier and engulfed Thanatos and Makoto in a fiery explosion.

"NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Yaldabaoth gloated. "YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME."

The Persona users all fell into shock from watching one of their comrades suddenly get blown up in front of their eyes. Their bodies buried by a large pile of rocks. About one mile behind Yaldabaoth, thousands of Ogres, armored riders and other demons marched and convened towards them, but it was as if their legs were made of stone, unable to budge even an inch from where they stood. Grief, fear, and a mix of anger were visible on their faces.

Amidst the silence, Rise suddenly gasped and placed her hands on the sides of her head. "It's impossible…" Her lips trembled as her eyes bulge wide with disbelief.

"What's impossible?" Ren asked, still half dazed.

From below Yaldabaoth came a gigantic glowing hand that rose straight up towards the sky. Larger than even Yaldabaoth's body, the hand held tightly onto it from behind.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Yaldabaoth's squirmed back and forth, but could not get out of the firm grip.

Then a white beam of light shot up from where Makoto and Thanatos had been standing. From the rubble, a white humanoid Persona made his appearance. He had a large pointed blade on his back. On his hip were a pair of hands and several coffins similar to the ones that Thanatos had. It was like seeing a combination of Orpheus and Thanatos in one body. He shined with such brilliance that it seemed like a god had descended down to Earth. His mere appearance instantly purified the toxic mist.

"Makoto!" Yukari called out with great relief.

Along with the white Persona, Makoto appeared from beneath the rubble. His hair and eyes turned completely white. His shirt torn off revealing several cuts and bruises on his chest, but suffered no deep wounds. He shook his hands several times before he pointed a finger at Yaldabaoth. "Messiah…go," he calmly said.

The white Persona materialized a long sword in his hands and unleashed a dozen energy waves with the swing of his swords in rapid succession. The energy waves pierced Yaldabaoth's shield and struck its torso.

Yaldabaoth released a pained groan for each hit it took.

Next, Messiah disappeared and reappeared right in front of the large Yaldabaoth in an instant. His blade glowed brightly as he punctured Yaldabaoth's abdomen with it and delivered a severe cut from there all the way to the top. He repeated the process from left to right. The two deep cuts left a trail of burning white flames that together, formed a cross on Yaldabaoth's body.

As the flames continued to burn, Yaldabaoth's squirming became noticeably less. It did however, hissed and growled when Messiah floated up so that they were face to face.

"HOW CAN A MERE HUMAN SURPASS A GOD?"

Without a word, Messiah raised his arm and unleashed a multitude of energy beams from the sky. They rained down on Yaldabaoth like meteor showers, shattering parts of its armor bit by bit.

With the giant hand still pinning it down, Yaldabaoth was left with no choice, but to gather energy near its mouth.

"Like I'm going to let that happen again," Makoto said, pumping his fist into air.

Messiah threw his blade right at Yaldabaoth's mouth and caused the gathered energy to explode near point blank.

The enormous false god groaned in pain and released a deep hum from within.

Makoto raised a finger up towards the sky. "It's time to go all out!"

The other Persona users who were silently watching in awe at the spectacle in front of them, snapped back to reality.

"Yeah!"

"Let's do this, Ann-chan," Yukari called out.

Ann nodded and stood next to Yukari. Together, they pointed at Yaldabaoth. "Go!"

Isis and Celestine focused all of their energy and released the most powerful fire and wind blast they shot out today.

"Let me show you something new I've learned," Rise said and summoned Kouzeon.

Suddenly, Isis and Celestine's attacks glowed combined together to form one single large projectile.

"Firestorm!"

The fire and wind powered attack pierced Yaldabaoth's body and left a large gaping hole in its abdomen.

"Satanael, one more time!" Ren formed a gun with his right hand as Satanael loaded another bullet in his gun. "Bang!" The bullet left Satanael's gun with a deafening boom and blew right through Yaldabaoth's torso, leaving another gaping hole.

"Unleash everything you have now," Yu said as he summoned Izanagi no Okami. The Persona charged his double-bladed staff and released several blasts that were invisible to the naked eye. Even then, Yaldabaoth cried out in pain every time it was struck by the invisible force.

Makoto extended his left hand towards the weakened Yaldabaoth. "There's no salvation for you. Return to nothing!" He snapped his fingers. "Armageddon." A tiny spark appeared in front of Yaldabaoth. Like the detonation of a nuclear bomb, it immediately ignited into a massive fiery explosion that instantly engulfed Yaldabaoth and continue to expand in all directions. It didn't take long for the demon army in the distance, the city, and this strange world they were in, to be completely wiped out in mere seconds.

* * *

Makoto released a painful groan and blink several times. Light peeked through his eyelids and his hazy vision eventually cleared enough that he realized he was looking up at the sky. From nearby, he heard familiar groans and grunts. It was as if his entire body was completely drained. He could barely move or even stand up. All he could do was turn his head and watched as the others regained consciousness.

"What happened?" Yu mumbled. He managed to climb back on his feet, but he was still unsteady that he almost tripped and fell.

"How did we even survive that?!" Rise exclaimed with a surprising amount of energy. "But it looks like everybody's safe."

While the others got back on their feet, Makoto remained lying on the ground face up, unfazed by the strange looks that the people passing by were giving him. Tall skyscrapers, blue sky, and a myriad of conversations going on at once. Yes, they were back home in Shibuya.

Yu and Ren extended their arms and helped Makoto up. His head was still spinning when Yukari jumped into an embrace, nearly knocking him back down if it weren't for the guys' hands on his back.

"What did I say earlier?" Yukari asked, her face buried in his chest and slowly pounding on it with her fists. "I thought you died!"

"Well…I didn't die, right?" Makoto's lips formed a crooked grin.

"…Idiot," Yukari said with a sniffle.

Ann pulled her back and placed a comforting arm over her shoulders. "Let's just be thankful that we are all safe and sound."

"Is it really over?" Rise asked. "I can't sense that other world anymore."

Ren grunted and looked up at the sky. "Yeah, I think it is. There's no way Yaldabaoth could survive _that_." He then turned his attention to Makoto. "Which reminds me, isn't that overkill, Yuki-san?"

Makoto glanced over his shoulder. "There's no such thing as overkill. There's only…Mass Destruction." His response left Ren speechless.

"I can't believe you can say such a cheesy line like that with a straight face." Despite his disbelief, an amused smile appeared on his face.

"This is just something you need to get used to in my line of work."

Ann suddenly screamed, prompting the others to be on high alert.

"What's wrong?" Ren asked. "Did you see an enemy?"

Ann shook her head, her eyes wide opened. "It's already this late and we haven't had lunch yet."

The tension immediately went from 100 to 0.

"Yeah, I didn't get a chance to hang out with Yukari-san and Ann-chan," Rise remarked with disappointment.

"We still have time to eat at least," Yukari said with a laugh. "I'm still free now."

"Then let's go!" Ann extended an arm and led the way down the sidewalk with Rise and Yukari closely behind.

"We should plan a triple date for later," Rise suggested. "Maybe during summer?"

"At a beach!" Ann added.

While the three girls happily chatted about the near future, the three boys followed them at a slower pace.

Yu smiled at the scene in front of him and then turned returned his attention to the other two guys. "How about we do our own group thing?"

Ren slightly shrugged his shoulders. "What do you have in mind, senpai?"

"A fishing activity?"

"Like what we do at club already?" Ren raised an uncertain eyebrow.

"Yeah."

The black-haired young man ran a hand through his unkempt hair and then sighed. "Yeah, sure."

"Yuki-san?"

"Might as well."

"Great!" Yu was full of smiles when he and the other guys joined up with the girls.

* * *

From the second story balcony overlooking the six Persona users was an old man in a wheelchair. Clad in a gray suit, his wrinkly hand lifted a teacup to his pale lips and took a small sip. All the while maintaining his gaze on the group. "Yaldabaoth has failed."

"Does that disappoint you, master?" His caretaker, clad in a black coat and skirt, asked with little emotion. Her soulless eyes were also facing in the direction of the Persona users.

A small smile spread across the man's face as he turned to address his aide. "No, I'm always delighted to witness great potential among the humans. But, we best be on our way now." He glanced over at the group one more time before he and his aide vanished into the air. "Until next time."


End file.
